Day 3: Live Blogging – Southern Great Barrier Reef (Bundaberg)

7:00am – A later start today so we didn’t need to get up as early. The 3rd and final clue was opened by Miss 10 and you can read it here if you’re interested.

Kelly’s Beach Resort

Anything with the name Kelly in it, has to be awesome. We stayed two nights at Kelly’s Beach Resort, situated near the beach at Bargara, just outside of Bundaberg. I’ve stayed in many different accommodation types over the years and Kelly’s eco-certified units are very comfortable for families (even a largish family like ours).

The self-contained units are huge; they felt like a small house rather than a unit. There is the main bedroom and a spacious open plan living space with the tallest ceilings I have seen in a holiday unit of this sort. There is also loft section that can sleep 5. Our four kids were excited about sleeping up there.

A favourite thing about Kelly’s Beach Resort is the privacy of each holiday unit; the position of the 40 individual units in between trees, winding paths, ponds and gardens, means a quiet and peaceful stay (even when it’s busy over a long weekend).

There’s plenty to do at the resort (a Licensed Restaurant, Pools, Spa, Sauna, Games Room, Tennis Court, BBQ areas, Kiosk & Tours Desk), plus it’s an ideal location to use as a base for exploring more of the Southern Great Barrier Reef region.

The unit we stayed in.

Restaurant area. We ate dinner and breakfast here as a family. Great family friendly environment.

One of the walkways around the 5.5 acre resort.

The staff were lovely: personable and down to earth which made us all feel very relaxed. That’s a rare thing, now that I think about it, so there’s a special quality there. Thank you for a lovely, lovely stay! Big thumbs up from me!

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks – The Bundaberg Barrel

10:00am – I’ve been a fan of Bundaberg brewed drinks for many years now so it was exciting for me to find more about the traditional process of brewing drinks to extract flavour from ingredients like ginger.

We visited The Bundaberg Barrel, went on a tour and tasted the drink varieties. Ginger Beer is my all time favourite, and another one we all liked was Sarsaparilla for its complex and interesting taste. All of the flavours are delicious (check out all the flavour varieties here)!

SSS Strawberry Fields

11:15am – STRAWBERRIES! Tam, a 2nd generation Dang family farmer, showed us around the factory and strawberries fields of SSS Strawberries (located in North Bundaberg). The family owned business is hands-on and I love that. In peek season, SSS Strawberries can turn over approximately 40 tonnes of strawberries each day. That’s 160,000 punnets!

What struck me most about this place was the community feel; it seemed like an extremely efficient place, and from what I could see, it’s less to do with having the latest technology and more to do with a lot of people coming together with a combined goal in mind. I could feel that. I could see it. I liked that. A lot.

Before we left, we headed out to the fields to give the kids an opportunity to pick their own strawberries to eat. Tam taught us how to find the most delicious and sweet strawberries.

Check out these punnet cases: they are long and flat so you can see each individual strawberry you are buying through the packet.

This is the Red Ruby Strawberry variety.

That smile says it all. All the kids enjoyed picking strawberries, but especially my son. It was a joy to see him so engaged. I know what will be in the lunch box tomorrow. Thanks Tam for giving our children such a great experience!

2:00pm – Met up with my Twitter friend @katapel at a park so the kids could have a run around before our 4 hour drive home.

7:00pm – Home

10:30pm – Washed a load of clothes. Ack! It’s relentless! Back to the usual grind.

We packed a lot into the three days we spent in the Southern Great Barrier Reef region. I feel weary, but amazed at all the experiences we had together as a family. Making memories. We want to explore this region more, so we will be back one day. But right now, I can hardly keep my eyes open so it’s sleep for me.

Disclosure

Kelly loves life at both ends of the spectrum: wearing high heel shoes one day and hiking boots the next; sipping tea out of a pretty cup and slurping hot coffee from a camping mug; challenging herself physically and stopping for quiet unhurried moments to feel the wind on her face. Kelly and her husband Matthew seek to live a fun and adventurous life with their four children and pet bird.